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Wednesday, September 3, 2014

Searching for Grace  by Juliann Rich

Sequel to Caught in the Crossfire



Young Adult GLBTQ
Date Published: 9/16/2014

First it’s a rumor. Then it’s a fact. And then it’s on.

Camp is over and Jonathan Cooper returns home. To life with his mother whose silence is worse than anything she could say…to his varsity soccer teammates at East Bay Christian Academy…to the growing rumors about what he did with a boy last summer at bible camp.

All the important lines blur. Between truth and lies. Between friends and enemies. Between reality and illusion.

Just when Jonathan feels the most alone, help arrives from the unlikeliest of sources: Frances “Sketch” Mallory, the weird girl from his art class, and her equally eccentric friend, Mason. For a short while, thanks to Sketch and Mason, life is almost survivable. Then Ian McGuire comes to town on the night of the homecoming dance and tensions explode. Fists fly, blood flows, and Jonathan—powerless to stop it—does the only thing he believes might save them all: he prays for God’s grace.

 Excerpt
I wandered away, scanning tables, until I reached the middle of the cafeteria and stood there, holding a tray with a plate full of gross.
“Yo, Jonathan,” a familiar voice called my name, “are you going to stand there drooling over a bunch of butt cracks or are you going to sit down and eat?”
I walked over to the small table in the corner and sat next to Sketch and Mason.
“You okay?” She looked at my face. “You look like you’re going to hurl.”
“Fine.”
“I’m just saying, if you’re going to hurl, I’d appreciate some warning.” Sketch slid a few inches to the left.
“I’m fine!” I turned to Mason and changed the subject. “Thanks for bailing me out in American lit. What are you, like a genius or something?”
Sketch stuck a finger in her mouth and made a gagging sound.
“Now he notices me in a class.” Mason sprinkled Parmesan cheese on his lasagna, a slight smile playing at the corners of his mouth. “Is it because you’re finally out?”
“W-what?” I stammered. “I don’t know what you’re talking about!”
“Well, I do,” Sketch said. “Word has it Luke, the new transfer kid from Minnetonka Public, knows for a fact you had all sorts of raging gay sex with a guy at soccer camp last summer. Says he has proof.”
I wanted to scream. I wanted to throw my tray across the cafeteria. I almost hurled.
“I heard it was two guys and it was full on anal wham-bam-thank-you-sir.” Mason butchered more than a stupid rhyme. “I also heard you caught some STD.”
I gripped my fork and counted to ten. “It was a Bible camp, and sure, I hung around with a guy named Ian, but we did not have raging gay sex, and I most certainly do not have a STD!”
“That’s not what I heard.” Mason lifted his box of chocolate milk to his lips.
“Well, I was there and I should know!” My voice rose a few decibels. Heads turned. I mean, more heads turned. Actually, the few heads that weren’t already staring at me, turned. “He was my friend. That’s all!”
“Chill, gentlemen. The important thing right now is that Jonathan is about as popular as a case of herpes.” Sketch pointed out the obvious. “Whether he has it or not is immaterial.”
“It’s not true!” I hissed.
Mason snorted. “Okay, Jonathan. Whatever you say.” He took another sip.
I willed him to choke on his chocolate milk. Really I did. For one malicious moment, I saw it spewing out of his nostrils like a Hershey’s geyser. It didn’t happen, but it felt good to picture it.
Sketch erupted, “Knock it off, Mason. He’s one of us now.”
“He’s one of us? Mr. we were just friends, I swear?”
Something thudded under the table, and Mason frowned at Sketch. “Quit kicking me!”
“Have you forgotten two years ago? When you went around telling everyone I was your girlfriend?” She threw a tomato slice at Mason. It hit him in the chest, leaving a red stain and a few seeds on his shirt when it dropped to the table. 
 “Wait, so you’re not…” I looked at Mason.
“Going to sit here while this stain sets in.” He stood and shot a lethal glance at Sketch.
“And you’re…?” I asked Sketch after Mason headed toward the boys’ bathroom.
“Does it matter?” She frowned. “Listen, Mason and I have been trying to form a Gay-Straight Alliance for two years, but school policy states a club must have a minimum of three charter members to form, and you know how much Hardin loves his school policies. What do you say…will you be our third?”
Somehow it didn’t seem advisable to tell the only person willing to sit with me at lunch, especially since she was prone to throwing food, that I would rather contract a case of herpes.




Juliann Rich
Minnesota writer Juliann Rich spent her childhood in search of the perfect climbing tree. The taller the better! Perched on a branch ten to thirty feet off the ground and surrounded by leaves, caterpillars, birds and squirrels was a good place for a young girl to find herself. Seeking truth in nature and finding a unique point of view remain crucial elements in her life as well as her writing.
Juliann is a PFLAG mom who can be found walking Pride parades with her son. She is also the daughter of evangelical Christian parents. As such she has been caught in the crossfire of the most heated topic to challenge our society and our churches today. She is committed to writing stories that shed light on the conflicts that arise when sexual orientation, spirituality, family dynamics and peer relationships collide.
Juliann recently won the Emerging Writer Award at The Saints and Sinners Literary Festival in New Orleans.
Juliann lives with her husband and their two chronically disobedient dachshunds in the beautiful Minnesota River Valley.
Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/pages/Juliann-Rich/198579460259167?ref=hl
Twitter:  https://twitter.com/JuliannRich1
Blog: www.therainbowtreeblog.com
4 Stars

 Jonathan came back from camp changed, but once he's back in the real world he has to decide if he'll allow the world to see those changes. And what if someone makes those choices for you? Will you be who you are or will you continue to hide until there's nothing left of you?

 This story switches between two times. One where Jonathan is in the hospital and one where it's the events leading up to what happened to put him there. Over the summer he accepted some of who he is, but not enough so that he's ok allowing others to know. His choices are tested from those closest to Jonathan, weather it's his mother trying to fix him, or those he once considered friends who are turning against him. Meanwhile the distance between him and Ian makes it harder for him to be at peace with himself especially when he's not only keeping secrets from Ian but he finds out Ian is keeping secrets too.

 Jonathan is still growing up, and learning who he is as a person and how to accept himself for who he is no matter those around him think. He's a scared kid, but then again he doesn't allow others to force him into something when he's not ready. He has a strength he's just learning about and I loved going on his journey to continuing to discover himself.

 Ian is still a fight type character, he'll go against anyone if they come at him no matter what. He's angry about his life and still learning about how to be out in the world ok with who you are without fighting against everyone who's not. In the future I'd love to his his story fully told from his POV. (Wink wink hint hint)

 There was also the secondary characters new and old throughout who helped bring balance to Jonathan's life. Simon and Dawn are there as adult characters who continue to show him that's it's ok to be who you are. And Sketch and Mason who become his new friends when his old ones abandon him. They are there to show him what true friendship really is when those he was closest to turn on him in the worst ways.

 Overall you see how it is to be different and be ok with it. Being accepted by others is only one step when the more important thing is being ok with yourself. This is the type of story that makes you think, it shows you how it is from the inside when those around you are against you and you're trying to figure things out without breaking down or giving in to the pressures around you.

 Jonathan still has a ways to go and I'll be keeping a sharp lookout for the next installment in this series, to seeing where his journey takes him.
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